COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD) TOOLS ARE A KEY COMPONENT IN THE DESIGN-VALIDATION CYCLE OF THE DEVELOPM…

Public award description

COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD) TOOLS ARE A KEY COMPONENT IN THE DESIGN-VALIDATION CYCLE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AIR-BREATHING PROPULSION SYSTEM FOR THE HIGHLY RELIABLE REUSABLE LAUNCH SYSTEM (HRRLS). IT IS REQUIRED THAT THE CFD TOOLS PROVIDE THE PREDICTIONS OF THE INTERNAL FLOW FIELD IN A PROPULSION SYSTEM NOT ONLY ACCURATELY, BUT ALSO EFFICIENTLY. NASA'S VISCOUS UPWIND ALGORITHM FOR COMPLEX FLOW ANALYSIS CODE (VULCAN), A MULTI-BLOCK STRUCTURED-MESH NAVIER-STOKES SOLVER FOR GENERAL REACTIVE FLOWS, IS CONSIDERED THE STATE OF THE ART FOR THE NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF SUCH INTERNAL FLOWS. IN MOST CASES, STRUCTURED MESHES ARE NEAR OPTIMAL FOR SUCH SYSTEMS, BUT AS THEY BECOME MORE GEOMETRICALLY COMPLEX, THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME REQUIRED TO CONDUCT A TIP-TO-TAIL ANALYSIS OF A NEW CONFIGURATION IS DOMINATED BY THE TIME REQUIRED TO GENERATE A GOOD QUALITY STRUCTURED MESH. THE PROPOSED WORK DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTES TO NRA TOPIC AREAS A.5.2.1, A.5.2.2, AND A.5.2.3 FOR HYPERSONICS, IN ITS FOCUS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED TIME-DEPENDENT FLOW FIELD PREDICTION METHODS SUITABLE FOR DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND OPTIMIZATION OF NEW CONCEPTS FOR HIGH-SPEED VEHICLE PROPULSION. EXPECTED IMPROVEMENTS IN PREDICTIVE CAPABILITY PROVIDED BY THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUES SHOULD TRANSLATE INTO UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION, INCREASED RELIABILITY, AND MORE OPTIMAL DESIGNS FOR SUCH CONCEPTS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO DEVELOP A REGIONAL UNSTRUCTURED-MESH TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL INITIALLY BE USED TO AUTOMATICALLY CONNECT EXISTING NON-C PATCHES IN A FULLY CONSERVATIVE, ACCURATE MANNER WITH MAJOR GOALS AND RELATED MILESTONES THROUGH INTEGRATION OF THE FVFLO-NCS INTO THE VULCAN CODE. VULCAN'S USE OF REGIONS WHERE DIFFERENT SOLVERS MAY BE ACTIVATED IS DIRECTLY COMPATIBLE WITH THE PROPOSED ADDITIONS IN THAT THE DATA STRUCTURES NECESSARY FOR THE UNSTRUCTURED SOLVER WILL BE BUILT AND ACCESSED SEPARATELY FROM THOSE USED IN OTHER SOLVERS IN VULCAN. THE UNSTRUCTURED-MESH SOLVER WILL BE BASED ON A VARIANT OF THE FEFLO CODE [7-14], NAMED FVFLO-NCS.